Member News – OEUK’s North Sea Future Plan: prominent theme at OEUK’s 2026 HSE conference 12 January 2026

January 13, 2026
Member News – OEUK’s North Sea Future Plan: prominent theme at OEUK’s 2026 HSE conference 12 January 2026

Offshore Energies UK will host its 2026 HSE conference on Wednesday, 25 February 2026, at Aberdeen’s P&J Live, bringing together leaders from across sectors to shape the future of the North Sea as a multi-purpose energy basin. Under the theme Trust. Transparency. Transformation, the conference will kick off with a pivotal session based on the UK government’s North Sea Future Plan  which will explore how co-location between offshore wind, oil and gas, and carbon capture and storage (CCUS) can deliver a safer, cleaner basin.

Mark Wilson, OEUK’s HSE & Operations director, said:

“Cross-sector collaboration and close consultation of industry experts will be key to delivering the North Sea Future Plan (NSFP) which the UK Government announced in 2025. We look forward to welcoming industry leaders, technical experts, regulators and innovators to this one-day event, sponsored by Harbour Energy and TotalEnergies with support from CNOOC International and Bureau Veritas. The first session of the day is a great opportunity to hear how improved guidance, aligned standards, better data sharing, and early engagement can enable offshore energies to achieve safe and sustainable co-location across the North Sea and support the plan’s integrated vision.”

Exploring the themes of trust, transparency and transformation across all areas of health, safety, and environment, including emissions performance, the conference features full audience events as well as a series of parallel breakout sessions throughout the day including:

  • North Sea Future Plan in action: Exploring the operational, safety, environmental, and regulatory issues of the NSFP with Professor John Underhill, University Director for Energy Transition at the University of Aberdeen featuring input from the Crown Estate, Seabed User & Developer Group (SUDG), Harbour Energy, CNOOC, and TotalEnergies.
  • Three morning parallel sessions: Trust, transparency and transformation in supporting good mental health; Trust and transparency and operating excellence in safety; Measuring methane.
  • Three afternoon parallel sessions: Trust, transparency and transformation in health compliance; Transformational safety practice; Operating in marine protected areas: aligning operator, regulator and advisory roles

The keynote speaker for the closing session of the day is Mark McBride-Wright MBE, founder & CEO, EqualEngineers, a distinguished leader in progressing diversity and inclusion initiatives within the engineering sector.

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AREG is the original energy transition organisation, working on behalf of members to empower the energy supply chain and champion its expertise. Please get in touch if you have any questions or would like to find out more about membership.

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AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

Scottish Renewables
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Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce has worked closely with AREG since its formation. The recent progress in the developments of offshore wind projects by Equinor and Vattenfall are as a result of the work of the group over many years. The north-east is known as the oil and gas capital of Europe. At the Chamber, we believe the region must evolve its position to being recognised as the energy capital. Whilst hydrocarbons will continue to be essential in driving our economy for years to come, the generation of renewable resources will play an increasingly important role in providing cost-effective power, innovative development and economic growth.

Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce
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The enthusiasm and dedication of the early group that would become AREG was fundamental in us choosing to launch All-Energy in Aberdeen. The first tiny show was held in 2001, and AREG’s Chairman at the time, Jeremy Cresswell, played such an active role that I often describe him in terms such as All-Energy’s ‘midwife’. All-Energy is now the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and conference in terms of number of attendees, space booked, and number of exhibiting companies. As AREG became firmly established, their presence and support for the event grew spectacularly over the years. We thank them most sincerely for their invaluable input.

All-Energy
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Vattenfall has forged a strong working relationship with AREG through the development of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. AREG has worked tirelessly on behalf of the North East and it can take enormous credit for the growth of sustainable energy in the region and the path it has cleared for the region to capture further investment.

Vattenfall
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Aberdeen City and Shire is emerging as a key location for renewables by successfully transferring its world-class oil and gas expertise into the sector and AREG has done much to advance this through a broad range of initiatives. It has acted as a catalyst in driving further investment in the local economy by engaging with companies, Government, public bodies and existing projects and we have been pleased to support their efforts. Scottish Enterprise will continue to engage with AREG as we increase Scotland’s use of renewable energy.

Scottish Enterprise